Arcadia still haunts
by clairlune
Summary: 10th Doctor. Doomsday occurs, but Donna doesn't. The past comes back to haunt him. He has to deal with what happened at the Fall of Arcadia, right here on Earth.
1. Chapter 1

It simply wasn't fair. The Battle of Canary Wharf was so reminiscent of what he saw during his days during the war. He never wanted to relive them again. He lost so much during those days, however nothing as important to him as what he lost today. His beloved English Rose was gone forever, trapped in another universe. He prepared the TARDIS to leave the star that he destroyed for her. How ironic, he thought, that the gases disintegrating from the supernova were forming a rose shape. He wanted to get away from here, clear his head. He needed to move on, but he didn't want to. He tried to find a distraction, however there were no disturbances in time, nothing the TARDIS could detect. He circled the console pressing this and that, turning random dials, flipping switches mindlessly not caring where he ended up, just hoping it wasn't London. The engines sounded up and The Doctor slumped in the console chair.

The engines came to a halt and the TARDIS jilted as it landed. He didn't care to look to see where he landed before walking out the doors. For the first time in over 900 years of travel the TARDIS seemed very small and cramped, he had to escape. The Doctor stepped onto the street. He was surrounded by what appeared to be office buildings and the sounds of traffic around. He was in a city. The air was a mixture of scents; traffic fumes, spices from all different types of international cuisine, crisp, sterile air conditioning from the office building openings, perfumes and sweat from the thousands of people on the street, and one more thing... salt. He could smell salt on the air, he was on the sea. He followed his nose, and eventually his ears to the water. He came across a massive park, the grass covered in hundreds of white parrot-like birds. He closed his eyes and let the wind and smells of the ocean wash over him.

He was brought back to reality when a couple of, what appeared to be, Japanese tourists asked him to take their photo against a large white building. As he focused the camera he noticed the building was rather peculiarly shaped. The Opera House. He grinned and took the photo.

"I'm in Sydney." The Doctor smiled to himself. He scanned the harbour.

"Well Kiribilli is still accessible by water, so its before the assassination of Prime Minister Rudd in 2009, and there are still some red stains on the Opera House from the protest in 2003. It must be around about 2006 or 2007." He mused to himself. A pamphlet blew to his feet. December 2007 was the date. He glanced around the park, or rather the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful. His mind drifted back to her. He never thought of taking Rose to Sydney, there was so many things he hadn't thought of doing with her that were coming to mind now; taking her to see Michael Bublè at the Opera House, watching her as she watched the animals at Taronga Zoo, watching her sample a meat pie and vegemite. He sighed.

A girl was sitting not far from where he was. Her long, golden hair was blowing in the wind. There was something etherial about her. He could not put his finger on it, there was something so special, so familiar about her. She looked out on the harbour. Why couldn't he take his eyes off her? She began to cough, a lot. The Doctor thought this was odd because December in Sydney is not flu season. He started to run to her side, her wheezing for air. As he got to her side she passed out and collapsed to the ground. He took her in his arms and carried he to the TARDIS.


	2. Chapter 2

She awoke suddenly, gasping for air. The Doctor turned to the girl in the seat in the main room.

"Glad to see that you decided to come back to us in the living world rather than joining those in the other one." He cheered to her.

"What happened to me?" She asked, hazily.

"You were in the Botanical Gardens having a coughing fit and collapsed, so I brought you here. Couldn't leave you out there by yourself now could I?" He replied.

"And where is here?"

"The TARDIS." He answered.

"What the 'TARDIS'? Is it some kind of design college or something?" She asked, noting the strange décor.

"The TARDIS is my home."

"And who are you?"

"I'm The Doctor."

"Gee, well that's lucky I passed out in front of a doctor." She laughed.

"And who are you?" He asked.

"I'm Adele."

"Yes, well do you mind if I do some tests on you, Adele, make sure you're ok and all that?" He asked.

"Uh, no, this kind of thing happens all the time, I think I should just go home." She replied.

"If this kind of thing happens all the time shouldn't you get it checked out?" He thought that this was odd.

"No, I get sick very easily so this is normal."

"Well last time I checked it wasn't normal for a human to pass out regularly. Are you human?"

"Of course I'm human, I'm not a cat or a monkey or a flippin' bird, am I?" She was beginning to become agitated.

"Of course, right, well then, where do you call home?" He wasn't going to argue with her.

"Broadway."

He set the controls for Broadway, as she watched, looking very very confused.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclamer: Don't own Doctor Who, only own Adele. Please let me know what you think!**

The engines in the TARDIS whirred and flashed as Adele watched in amazement.

"What is going on?" She asked?

"I'm taking you home." The Doctor replied.

"How is it doing that?" She asked, pointing to the console. She had a rather scared look on her face.

"Well, it depends how deep of an explanation you want," He replied, his attention on the console, "Since your human I couldn't go into the quantum mechanics too much, so lets just say that..." He stopped when he heard a thud. He looked around for Adele and found her on the ground, unconscious. "No, no, no!" He groaned at her and carried her down a corridor deeper into the TARDIS.

Adele awoke, her head feeling rather heavy. She looked around, she was in her room, in her bed. The Doctor and the moving room must have been a crazy dream she thought. She proceeded to get out of bed and walked into the living area, where she saw the man from her dream holding a steaming mug.

"What are you doing here, you're a dream. You can't exist!" She gasped, her face becoming whiter and paler. The Doctor quickly handed her the mug.

"Quick drink this."

"What is it?" She asked, her hand shaking as she took the mug.

"Tea. Good for the blood." He beamed at her. She raised the mug to her lips and drank the warm liquid.

"So, who are you and what are you doing in my dreams, as well as my apartment?" Adele asked.

"I told you, I'm The Doctor, and you weren't dreaming, I found you passed out in the Botanical Gardens and brought you home." The Doctor answered. "You told me that you lose consciousness fairly frequently, can you tell me why?" Adele took a seat on the futon, still grasping the mug. She took another mouthful of the warm liquid.

"I don't really know, its happened since I was a kid. I always just thought of it as normal." She said, matter-of-factly.

"Didn't your parents ever take you to a doctor or something?" The Doctor asked, puzzled.

"No, they didn't think anything of it. I doubt that they ever had time to take me to see a doctor. Always busy working." Her voice had a tone of anger to it.

"Didn't someone at school notice, a teacher, or friends perhaps?" This was very troubling to The Doctor, why would any parents not take any notice of their daughter randomly collapsing periodically?

"Didn't go to school, was home-schooled by someone who was appointed by the company my parents work for. She said it was nothing."

"What company did your parents work for?" He enquired.

"An English one, they're English, like you, well I assume your English by the accent." She trailed off.

"Yeah, sure fine, but what company?" He got more urgent. He feared that he already knew what company.

"They never talked about it much, it was kind of taboo. I think it began with 'T'. Torchwood, that was it." She looked up at him. His face was grief-stricken. "What does it mean?" Adele began to get scared of the look on The Doctor's face.

"It means I have to take you back to the TARDIS right now to see what they have done to you." He headed for the door, Adele running behind.


End file.
